Free Exchange is an annual interdisciplinary conference organized and run by graduate students from the Department of English at the University of Calgary. Founded over twenty years ago, the Free Exchange Conference has grown in size and scope and has attracted participants from across Canada, the United States, and beyond.

Please note that this is a fundraiser with a $15 admission. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online.

This is My City

Thursday January 24 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM

This is My City Art Society (TMC) is saying goodbye and starting a new chapter. For ten years, a brave and talented group of socially active artists encouraged Calgarians, no matter who they were, to create art. If you have ever been involved in TMC whether it was as an artist-mentor, an artist, a sponsor or someone who enjoyed TMC’s spirit of community, please join us in celebrating TMC.

This is My City, This is Our Legacy, takes you through the history of TMC. It reveals the determination and accomplishments of its artist-mentors and artists, and provides hope for the future with the This is My City Art Fund.

The authors of the book are the people who painted, wrote, danced and sung many songs while a part of TMC. From artist-mentors, to artists, partners and sponsors, these are the creators of a community and their voices are collected on the page through workshops, exhibits, plays, concerts and so much more.

How Can You Think That?!? A Political Book Club

Saturday January 26 | 10:00AM - 12:00PM

A book club for conservatives and liberals who want to get out of their echo chambers and bridge the great divide. Buy the book, read it, and come join us for a lively discussion.

We’ve all felt it: Whether we’ve argued pointlessly with someone on social media, felt our blood pressure rise as we’ve fought over politics with family members, or simply veered delicately away from certain topics, it’s hard to ignore the chasm between those who hold opposing political views. And it feels like it’s getting worse, that politics are getting uglier, and that reasonable discussion is falling by the wayside.

What can ordinary people do to bridge the great divide? We can read books that smart and reasonable people have written in defense of their views and we can talk about these books with others who may or may not wear the political stripes we do.

Come to Shelf Life Books for a monthly book club that does just that. Ideally, participants will have read the book assigned for that day, and will come prepared to discuss it. All of the books on our list will be made available by Shelf Life. We will meet from 10 am to noon on the last Saturday of every month.

This months selection is: Shopping For Votes by Susan Delacourt.

Inside the political backrooms of Ottawa, the Mad Men of Canadian politics are planning their next consumer-friendly pitch. Where once politics was seen as a public service, increasingly it’s seen as a business, and citizens are the customers. But its unadvertised products are voter apathy and gutless public policy. Susan Delacourt takes readers into the world of Canada’s top political marketers, from the 1950s to the present, explaining how parties slice and dice their platforms for different audiences and how they manage the media. The current system divides the country into “niche” markets and abandons the hard political work of knitting together broad consensus or national vision. Little wonder then, that most Canadians have checked out of the political process: less than two per cent of the population belongs to a political party and fewer than half of voters under the age of thirty showed up at the ballot box in the last few federal elections. Provocative, incisive, entertaining and refreshingly non-partisan, Shopping for Votes offers a new narrative for understanding political culture in Canada.

TALES: Fake News Live!

Wednesday January 30 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM

From ancient runners through to digital times, fake news has continued to be broadcasted. Join host, Linda Shantz-Keresztes and storytellers/spoken word performers: Paul Finkleman, Linda Shantz-Keresztes, and Cassy Welburn.

Come out to Calgary’s all-ages poetry slam and open mic as we gear up for the fourth annual provincial junior high and high school poetry slam competition. Poets of all ages are welcome to come out and share their words, competitively (in the slam) or non-competitively (open mic).

Pieter de Vos: There is a Story in Our Story - Narrativity and Documentary Photography

Saturday February 09 | 2:00PM - 3:00PM

This session explores life in South Africa through the experiences of Donald Banda, who resides in Woodlane Village, an informal settlement located in a wealthy suburb in Pretoria. Photographs and first-person accounts reveal the complexities of social and economic inclusion in contemporary South Africa. They also speak to the universal human desire for belonging. As Donald says, “There is no place like home. But if home no longer feels like home, we are lost. We are a lost generation.”

The session will draw on the experiences of Pieter de Vos, an award-winning photographer and engaged academic who has been exploring questions of home and belonging in South Africa since 2012.

Images from this project have been recognized by the News Photographers Association of Canada in the 2018 National Pictures of the Year awards competition. The pictures were also winners in the photojournalism category of the PDN Photo Annual 2018.

The session represents his commitment to share the story of Woodlane Village and of Donald. As South Africa approaches the 25-year anniversary of its first open elections, it is important these stories enter the conversation on the state of the nation since the abolishment of apartheid.

Come and celebrate analogue photography with the release of SEITIES 10th publication Open Theme at Shelf Life Books. The upcoming 10th Anniversary Publication features 50+ local, national and international analogue photographers who utilize unique traditional processes in their contemporary photography practices. The exhibition features the original handmade darkroom prints, polaroids, and wet plates from the Theme:OPEN contributing artists.

On site 18th Century style tintypes portraits will be available prior to and at the event by Rainika Photographik. Sittings available February 17th from 1-9pm 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 formats available.

SEITIES is a Non-profit Contemporary Photography Publication, Gallery, & Educational Organization. SEITIES aims to promote national and international artists by encouraging and supporting traditional methods of production in photography and giving an open platform to alternative analogue photographers who utilize traditional methods in their contemporary photography practices.

You're invited to the launch of antilang. magazine's second collected volume (No. 2-3, Fall 2018 / Winter 2019) on Tuesday, February 19th at 7 PM. This new collection features work by 60 writers, ranging from local to international and from emerging to award-winning.

Margaret is unlike other women: her hands bark, she speaks Hawaiian Punch, and she can often be seen prodding at stars with sticks. And sometimes she is the happiest woman in the world: a pillow with a pillowcase. Her brother, Alex, feels pleasant enough, except that his parts are made of wood, and that a bunch of his hair is electrified. And then there are the gun-shot wounds to his head and chest. With this final ailment, Margaret may have had a hand.

Join us to celebrate the launch of Exhibit, a new book of poetry by Paul Zits. Weaving together primary source material, interviews, fairy tails, the history of feminist film and more, Exhibit is a masterful work of collage poetry that rests in the space where reality is constructed and blurred.

Paul will be joined by Jani Krulc and Tyler Hayden for an evening of electrifying poetry.

Jani Krulc is the author of The Jesus Year and co-founder of ScribeYYC. She teaches creative writing at Mount Royal University.

Tyler Hayden is the author of OHMHOLE published by Book*hug in 2011. He currently lives, writes, and teaches in Calgary, AB.

Paul Zits is the author of Exhibit, Massacre Street, and Leap-seconds. His work has been awarded the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry and the Robert Kroetch Award for Innovative Poetry.

Tabula Rasa

Thursday March 28 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM

Tabula Rasa is a comic anthology featuring local illustrators as well as a number of special guest illustrators from around the world. Eighteen illustrators total were given the prompt to illustrate a three panel comic on the same blank slate, with the only rule being that there can't be any words. The collection of comics showcases a broad range of approaches to narrative and to the concept of silence, and is brimming with local and international illustrative excellence. Tabula Rasa is the second in a series of anthologies Cole Degenstein is putting together to celebrate contemporary illustration.